Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics Books

To the Stars!

To the Stars! The First American Woman to Walk in Space
by Carmella Van Vleet & Dr. Kathy Sullivan; illus. by Nicole Wong
40 pages; ages 5-8
Charlesbridge, 2016

Theme: science, space, exploration, women

“Kathy Sullivan loved to explore.”

When her father brings home blueprints of airplanes, she studies their lines and curves. She daydreamed about flying, and when people asked, she told them that when she grew up she wanted to see the whole world. And she did – becoming the first woman to walk in space.

What I like about this book: It portrays a little girl who wants to be an adventurer and see the world at a time when girls were expected to grow up to be mothers or teachers or nurses. I like the way that pairs of spreads alternate, showing Kathy as a girl and in the next spread as a grown woman facing the same questions and problems. For example: a wonderful illustration of her as a teenager in the cockpit, learning to pilot a plane. “There were so many dials and buttons and numbers.” The next spread shows Kathy as an astronaut studying another (much larger) instrument panel.

There is great back matter including a note from Kathy, additional biographical material, and “American Women Firsts in NASA History”.